Advice solicited

[stevebody]

Guys:

Thanks so much. A lot of what you suggested I had already adopted as policy but there were some gems. I'm definitely going to institute the daily tastings and two of my sales manager friends with local distribs have agreed to provide me with whatever I want for sampling. I'm NOT going to hoarde samples for my own personal use. (Not all of them...) I've always thought that those bottles could be better used for instore tastings. Esquin would frequently wind up with upwards of eighty bottles open on our breakroom table, just after the newsletter tasting, and no customers ever had any of it. I would occasionally sneak a bottle to someone I knew had an interest in a particular varietal or region but policy was that we'd take them home or they were poured out. Stupid.

I've never understood why MOST wine shops don't have music on. Around here, at least, that's the rule, with one or two exceptions. Even more puzzling is the almost universal shabiness of the shops. Esquin is an unadorned warehouse. Pete's Eastlake is a convenience mart and Pete's Eastside is a defunct supermarket. Linoleum, flourescent lights, old paint...Champion Cellars hasn't been cleaned or rearranged in 25 years. Pike & Western is heavy on concrete, cinderblocks and badly handmade racks, with borderline illegible signage. McCarthy and Schiering is clean and well-stocked but soulless and the salespeople have some, uh, 'tude issues. These are the cream of the NW crop. I'm definitely going to Olympia to check out Bucko's friend's shop there.

Most of all, I have NEVER gotten this business of every shop in the area stocking the same basic core of wines. My friend Hugh, at Winslow Wine Shop, was right across the street from the best grocery-store wine operation in this area and he INSISTED on going head-to-head with them on stock. He couldn't possibly compete on price, so he wound up being compared to them, unfavorably, by everybody who came in. One of my favorite Soaves is the Gini La Frosca, and you could grow old around here trying to find it on a shelf. It's in the distrib's catalog but nobody stocks it. Ditto for most Morgan wines, almost every freakin' Beaujolais besides DuBoeuf, anything from outside WA, OR, or CA in domestics, and almost everything from Spain except for a core of about fifteen wines. I LOVE scrounging around for those overlooked gems and creating a market for them. I'm going to take a little of the credit, locally, for promoting the Di Majo Norante Sangiovese to its current rank of best-selling red in Seattle outside of Yellow Tail. I'm also taking credit for Peter Lehmann Barossa Cab selling AT ALL around here because I WHIPPED on other wines shops to carry that stuff and sold over 700 cases, myself. I think small, independent wine shops shouldn't carry much of anything that can be had in supermarkets, anyway. You just can't compete.

On pricing, I'm totally in agreement with my retail wine guru, Gary Holman, who created thye wine program at the aforementioned Town & Country Market. His philosophy was that people will buy, first, on price and that hook allows you your best opportunity to sell them better - regluar priced - wines. He ran a minimum of 35 discounted specials every week and usually more than 50. He had 3200 labels in the cellar, so the regular markup wasa flat 30% for shelf stock and the backroom goodies were priced at current cost for replacement. He never refused a return and the order was that everybody leaves satisfied, no matter what. That wine department was either the third or fourth largest customer of most of the local distributors and stayed that way for about 11 years. We don't have to support but two people; me and Judye. My markup is 30% and loss leaders will typically be as low as I have to go to underprice everybody but Pete's and Esquin. Our closest local competetion will be Costco but, at least around here, Costco has a VERY limited selection, doesn't do tastings, and their prices are ALWAYS above Pete's and Esquin. I have to think that anyone but the most casual drinkers will prefer to shop an actual wine shop, pay less, and be able to get into a wine conversation in the bargain.

In WA, it's legal and possible to run a wine bar on-premises and we've been planning to do that but practicality will dictate. I don't want to get into the food business, again. I don't want visits from the health department and the required plumbing/refrigeration hoo-hah. That said, I'd do it, IF we find a space that offrers a nice space, preferably outside seating as well as inside. Right now, we're planning to do this in Woodinville, WA, which some of you may know as the home of the Columbia Winery and Chateau Sainte Michelle, as well as a dozen or so smaller wineries. It's getting ready to boom in wine trade businesses and, amazingly, there's NO wine shop in the town.

Thanks for all the input! If you think of anything else, please post it here or try my email, stevebody@go.com.